Nineteen school choice students apply

SOMERSET — Nineteen students have applied to attend Somerset Berkley Regional High School under the state's school choice program and Interim Superintendent Thomas Lynch said acceptance letters have been sent to all of them.

Comment

By GEORGE AUSTIN

southcoasttoday.com

By GEORGE AUSTIN

Posted Jul. 10, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By GEORGE AUSTIN

Posted Jul. 10, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

SOMERSET — Nineteen students have applied to attend Somerset Berkley Regional High School under the state's school choice program and Interim Superintendent Thomas Lynch said acceptance letters have been sent to all of them.

And that number could increase before the school year starts as Lynch said the school district will be continuing to accept applications from parents for students to go to the high school under the school choice program.

School districts in Massachusetts that participate in the school choice program agree to accept a certain number of students from other school districts at a cost per student to the school districts that they transfer from. Somerset Berkley has decided to accept up to 42 students from other school districts.

The state requires every public school district in Massachusetts to take an annual vote on whether they will participate in the school choice program or not. The school choice program has never been used at the high school. The other schools in Somerset, all three of the elementary schools and the middle school, will not be participating in the school choice program.

Lynch said that of the 19 students who have been accepted at the high school as part of the school choice program, eight will be freshmen, seven will be sophomores and four will be juniors. He said it is not surprising that no seniors applied for the program since a student most likely would not want to change schools for their last year of high school.

Lynch said some of the students who have applied to attend Somerset Berkley Regional High School under the school choice program are from Fall River, some are from the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District, a few are from New Bedford and several are children of teachers at the high school who do not live in Somerset or Berkley.

Lynch said the new state of the art Somerset Berkley Regional High School building that will open for the coming school year was a factor with some of the students applying for the local school choice program.

"I talked to several sets of parents from Dighton-Rehoboth and that was definitely one of the draws," Lynch said of the new high school.

Under the present legislation, the Somerset Berkley Regional School District would receive $5,000 per student from the school districts where the school choice students live. That would add up to $95,000 in additional revenue for the Somerset Berkley Regional School District for the coming school year. But that number could be increasing. The state Legislature has approved a bill that would increase that number to $8,420 per student. Lynch said that legislation has been sent to Governor Deval Patrick and will become law if he decides to sign it.